What Walmart’s Decision To Stop Using Robots To Scan Shelves Means

Walmart ended its contract with Bossa Nova Robotics, which provided the retailer with robots that scanned shelves for inventory. Although Walmart believes that humans can accomplish the same task, this does not mean it is the end for retail automation at the company.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Walmart will stop using 500 inventory-scanning robots in its stores. The coronavirus pandemic has increased the number of workers who walk the aisles to collect items for delivery or pick-up services, so the company has discovered that they can also scan the shelves instead of the robots. The retailer also has concerns about how customers react to seeing the large, six-foot tall robots scanning the shelves while they are shopping.

“Retailers need to find the right robot for their stores. We know that robots can sometimes feel obtrusive or intimidating to shoppers, as was the case with Walmart,” Mark Cook, executive vice president and head of retailer solutions at Trax, said.

Walmart’s decision to part ways with Bossa Nova Robotics does not signal it is the end of robots in stores. Retailers are still interested in automating tedious, manual and repetitive tasks. They will continue to test various solutions because consumer behavior is changing rapidly, and retailers need constant product availability updates while maintaining a positive shopper experience.

“We do not think the future of automation in retail is a question of robots or not, but more a focus on how to collect accurate and actionable data. To successfully digitize the store, technology has to really see and understand the shelves better than human eyes,” Cook said.

Cook points out that automated solutions must be accurate, actionable and frequent, or vendors end up losing retailers’ and associates’ trust. Automation vendors can also lose their customers’ trust because of inaccurate data that creates additional work for retail associates instead of freeing up their time to focus on helping shoppers.

While robots offer one way to obtain data, a hardware-agnostic solution that combines multiple integrated technologies and data-collection methods is another option. It has to be optimized to fit each store with internet of things-enabled shelf-edge and ceiling cameras in addition to autonomous robots, so there is complete and accurate store coverage.

The value of instant information about store shelves has become apparent during the coronavirus pandemic as retailers struggle with out-of-stock issues, and automation offers a solution.

“Out-of-stock items have been and will continue to be a massive problem for retailers, especially as consumer behavior is constantly shifting due to COVID-19. The increases in online ordering and surge buying have already cost the retail industry billions in lost revenue. Retailers have tried to solve this issue with humans, but people simply do not thrive when performing manual, repetitive tasks, such as gap and price scanning. This is where automation shines,” Cook said.

The end of its roaming robots that scan shelves does not mean that Walmart is done with automation. The company previously announced it plans to turn four stores into technology test centers, so it can innovate faster. You may encounter a different robot or device in a Walmart aisle in the future.

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